Silent Affections (Abandoned)
by Halo20601 AKA MasterCheifMan
Summary: For gabeherndon308. An encounter with refugees of an alien planet may very well change the life of a teen. Mute OC x Ilana.


Guided by his camera's built-in night vision, Daniel ventured deeper into the darkened woods, hoping to uncover what he is expecting to find. This all started while the ever-curious teen was stargazing from his house's roof and witnessed one of them fall from the sky. The lush forest was chillingly silent — Daniel heard the sharp cracks of dried leaves on his sneakers, as a mild wind blew gently around him — just how he liked it. At that moment, Daniel spotted something smoking in the distance — it had to be the meteorite — and tip-toed to and crouched behind a bush. Upon closer examination, he discovered it was not a meteorite at all... it looked more like a ship.

A hatch opened with a hiss, which caused Daniel to gasp and duck his head down, but not before he pressed the record button. He cautiously observed a figure emerge from the spacecraft with what looked like a musket. The individual wore a distinctive uniform that reminded Daniel of a Confederate soldier — as he recalled from his history class — and appeared to be scouting out the local area. _Clink. Clink. Clink._ Those sounds returned Daniel's attention to the ship as a girl emerged from it. The teen's face immediately reddened upon seeing she was around his age with bleach-blonde hair styled into a point and garbed in a violet dress.

"Princess!" The soldier exclaimed, hastily doffing his helmet — revealing to be around their age, too, with an ebony mullet — and rushed to her while holding his breath. The girl barely had gotten a word in before the helmet was forced on her. The soldier dropped to his knees as he continued holding his breath, only to catch some air with a deep cough eventually. After a few more gasps, he presented to the princess a very much frustrated glare. "Are you crazy? You could've died."

The princess — annoyed herself — forcibly pulled the helmet off and told him, "The robot analyzed the atmosphere. I am fine."

A humming sound came from the ship as a translucent-cyan orb rose and floated towards the two of them and shapeshifted into a more humanoid form. "My name is Octus." The strange being introduced. "And yes, the atmosphere is practically identical to our planet."

"Great," The disgruntled soldier mumbled as he took back his helmet. "But the King still made me responsible for your safety." The princess hmphed and proceeded to walk away. "And where do you think you're going?"

"To find a way home." She replied.

The soldier followed and stopped right in front of her. "We can't go back! Your father sent us here for a reason."

"What? To sit by and let my people, my father, fall at the feet at the Mutraddi?"

The soldier leaned in close to the princess — making her step back — as he said, "To hide you on this planet to keep you safe. To ensure the future of Galaluna."

"Don't even pretend you care about the fate of Galaluna for one second!" The princess snapped back, catching the soldier off-guard as she crossed her arms. "I know about you. And your past Corporal." Likely having a nerve struck, the soldier scowled at the princess. "Why my father assigned this mission to you, I…"

"This planet is called Earth." Octus interrupted, with the two teens staring at the robot. "In case you were wondering."

A moment of obstinate silence went by until the princess asked, "How far is that from Galaluna?"

Daniel decided that he should not stay here any longer and would probably be for the best to get back home. Especially before his aunt and uncle learn that he had snuck out on a school night. The teen turned off the recording and slowly stepped back. _Snap._ Daniel looked down and saw he stepped on a twig. "I heard something." Daniel began to sweat, then noticed the soldier was looking right in his direction. "Stop right there!" The teen — without a second thought — attempted to scramble out of the area as fast as he could. However, it did not take long for the soldier to catch up with and pin him to the ground, smashing his camera in the process.

"Lance!" The princess shouted as she and the robot arrived.

"He was spying on us."

"This must be one of the planet's natives?" Octus guessed. "I believe they are called Earthlings."

"Get off of him. I don't think he's dangerous." The princess told the corporal.

"But…" Lance began, only for the monarch to glare at him. The soldier looked at Daniel and threatened him with, "You better not try anything."

After he was freed, the princess offered Daniel a hand up as she said, "I apologize for his actions. I am Princess Ilana of Galaluna." The teen looked at her hand for a moment, then accepted. "May I ask for your name?"

Daniel stared at her. He knew how to respond but was unsure if she would understand it. Daniel pointed his finger at his mouth and shook his head.

"Is… that a greeting?"

The teen repeated the actions.

"I believe he is trying to tell you that he cannot speak," Octus said.

Daniel snapped his fingers and pointed at the machine while nodding.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize..." Ilana apologized.

Daniel raised and shook his hands, then gave her two thumbs up.

"I believe this is his way of telling you it is okay," Octus said again.

"Oh, all right, then." The princess replied as she awkwardly mimicked the teen.

The trees started to rustle violently as loud sounds slowly approached before Daniel could communicate anything else. A helicopter flew overhead and stopped with its lights beaming down on the group; while the ground rumbled as tanks approached with soldiers on foot.

Lance turned to Octus and ordered, "Get her out of here! Now!"

Octus enveloped the princess into its body and floated away as Lance reached for something on his wrist. There was a flash, and in place of the dark-haired teen was a giant indigo robot that looked like it was designed for combat.

Daniel sprinted for the woods to place distance between himself and the battle amidst the military and the aliens. The teen had a harder time figuring out where he was going — tripping on tree roots and tall grass — but was slowly able to make sense of his surroundings.

Daniel eventually found and ran toward his home — the explosions from the battle echoing throughout the forest — as his heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. The teen re-entered the house the same way he left, through his bedroom window, being extremely careful not to make any noise.

Once inside, Daniel quickly changed out of his dirtied clothes and jumped into bed, still in absolute disbelief of what happened tonight. He tried cleansing his mind of what happened — while a part of him contemplated what may have become of Ilana, Lance, and Octus — and gave in to his exhaustion, falling to sleep.

.

.

.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ "Daniel, it's time to get up." _Knock. Knock. Knock._ "Breakfast is downstairs. Better hurry up before it's gone."

Daniel slowly sat up and dragged his hands across his weary face as he opened his eyes and let out a yawn. Begrudgingly accepting that even sleep could not hold back the persistence of his uncle, Daniel crawled out of bed to take a shower; before changing into his army-green paths, white-wolf t-shirt, and sneakers. Once fully clothed, he straightened-out his chocolate hair away from his still-drowsy sapphire eyes and headed downstairs; there, the delightful aroma of blueberry waffles and hazelnut coffee filled the air.

With a genial smile, Daniel's aunt greeted him from the table with a "Good morning."

The teen took a seat across from her and his uncle before signing back, _Morning._

"You slept later than usual." His uncle pointed out as he spread the newspaper.

_Sorry._

"It's all right." His aunt told him. "There is still plenty of time for breakfast."

Daniel smiled and nodded before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Huh, well, that's interesting." His uncle said as he stared into his paper. "A meteor landed in the local forest. I bet that must've been a sight to behold."

Daniel continued to sip his coffee, then quickly devoured the waffles before taking his cleaned plate and empty cup to the sink.

_Honk! Honk!_ "Oh, the bus is here." His aunt commented as Daniel grabbed his backpack and gave his guardians the peace sign before heading out the door. "Have a good day at school."

.

.

.

Jocks were discussing football, "popular" girls gossiping with each other, and discussions about social life and homework in an overall average bus ride to Sherman High; while he took this time to get a few more minutes of sleep. Daniel must have gone out like a light because the next thing he knew, he was woken up by screeching tires, and the driver telling everyone to disembark.

Daniel headed to his locker to store his backpack before going straight to First Period, just as the second bell rang. He took his seat in the back of the class just as the students arrived, followed by the teacher, who was accompanied by… Daniel's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized it was…

"Hello, class." The teacher greeted. "We have a new student joining us today, Ilana Lunis. Would you care to introduce yourself?"

The blonde stepped forward and made hand gestures as she spoke, "The heart, body, and mind. Join as one." She courteously bowed. "Salutation friends! I am honored to be here in this fine institution, where I know our friendship will blossom. And the bonds of social segregation will give way to unite us as one."

The rest of the class was silent until someone coughed, "Doofus." Followed by brief laughter from the other students, and a visible frown on Ilana's face.

"Okay, Ms. Lunis, take a seat anywhere you like." The teacher said, pointing to the back of the room.

"Many thanks." The alien princess said as she walked over to her new desk, across from Daniel's, and instantly recognizing him right then and there.


End file.
